Say what you want about Real Madrid’s first half of the La Liga season, but the Merengues’ sensational tally of 47 points from 19 games is still a record. It’s also a considerably better situation than Real found itself in under Fabio Capello at this stage last year. As ESPN’s Phil Ball says, “the brave but equally ruthless decision not to continue with Capello seems to have paid off, if only because the squad in general looks a lot happier.” But which came first, he asks, a happier dressing room or the results?
Ball points out that the “gods of (mis)fortune” have a way of changing the tide in the second half of the season, as they famously did to Barcelona last year. He warns that the Merengues are too reliant on their two best players-goalkeeper Iker Casillas and goal hero Ruud Van Nistelrooy. Amazingly, Casillas has conceded just 14 goals despite a league-high 247 shots at his goal. Casillas has actually saved 82 of those shots and has now gone 468 minutes without conceding a goal. Ruud, meanwhile, just keeps scoring-particularly lately-but he’s also had a stronger supporting cast this season, notably Robinho and the resurgent Raul.
Ball says that Barcelona, despite the bad press, has actually played pretty well. He adds that that ugly seven point gap would have been cut to one had it not been for the 1-0 home defeat against Real just before Christmas. As is his mid-season tradition, Ball takes stock of every team in the table. For the rest: